6 Replies - 4915 Views - Last Post: 28 June 2016 - 10:24 AM

How did you learn your programming language?

Posted 06 July 2010 - 07:41 PM

First a little backstory:

I have always wanted to learn C++ in a school environment. I figure that it would be more efficient and it would be good to have a teacher to ask all your questions to. The one problem is that there is two programming classes at my school. A level 1 and level 2 of a class taught in Real Basic and a little HTML. Even thought this isn't the language I have chosen to learn, I thought it would be a good experience. Because throughout all languages there is the same concept, for the most part. So I went to my guidance counselor and asked her to sign me up for the programming class. She then informed me that you need at least 10 people to sign up for a class for it to be taught that year, and that I am the only one that signed up. So unless I could get 9 other people to sign up with me, I couldn't take the class. I only know about 3 other people that are my "programming friends". So I gave up on that, and started teaching myself. I have come a long way since then and taught myself via books, .pdf's, websites(like d.i.c), and YouTube tutorials. I have learned the basics and quite a bit of the more advanced topics.

So now a question, How did you learn your programming language?

Was it self-taught, or did you take a class? What methods did you use?

Re: How did you learn your programming language?

Posted 06 July 2010 - 08:24 PM

I joined FIRST robotics, and started on software. We use C++ on our robot so, that helped a lot. The software lead (who is my friend) taught me a lot about it. I took an intro class this year (which was easy cause my friend taught me quickly). This year I'm going into a data structures class, and can help program the robot competently .

I also self taught myself HTML, CSS, Javascript, and other web-development languages.

Re: How did you learn your programming language?

Posted 07 July 2010 - 05:56 AM

My first language was BASIC in the 80's when the first Radio Shack TRS-80 came out. I was in high school and our science teacher bought one complete with cassette tape drive for storing programs, and a book of BASIC applications. I fell in love with this magic box. I came into to school an hour early every day to type in programs from the book. Once one was done I could run it. Then I could see what it did, recognize certain things from what I typed etc. and began to understand how the language worked.

Then came owning a Commodore VIC-20, then Commodore 64 and some assembly language... Then high school graduation... Then the US Army and a complete halt to computers for years... then C++... then C#.

Re: How did you learn your programming language?

Learning a programming language is like learning chess. The fundamentals can be learned quickly but learning to play with it takes a lifetime.

Underneath it all is the fundamental concept of algorithms; taking a request/problem and converting it into a list of instructions. The language used is only the tool used to describe how the solution is to be arrived at.

To really learn a language you have to use it. As you use it you will interact with other programmers, as in DIC, to pick up new information. You should also be reading and thinking about using the language better. You should also be learning other languages, which can improve you utilization of your current language.

Re: How did you learn your programming language?

Posted 28 June 2016 - 09:59 AM

I found I learned the most when I had an already built program that I could dive into and dissect each line of code. Figure out what each line means/does. Experiment with it to see how you can change the program and see if you can predict the outcome of those changes. You'll probably want to save an original copy of the program though. Often times a missed semi-colon or other tiny difference will crash the program and you'll tear your hair out for days trying to fix it.

Re: How did you learn your programming language?

Posted 28 June 2016 - 10:24 AM

tlhIn`toq, on 07 July 2010 - 07:56 AM, said:

My first language was BASIC in the 80's when the first Radio Shack TRS-80 came out.

A Trash 80? Damn, you're old. Oh, wait, mine was BASIC on an Atari 800. Or VIC-20 or Apple ][. I'll give Apple ][ the cred; was playing around with that for a while before I finally got my very own computer for xmas.

Turbo Pascal! You knew your were cool when you actually programmed in something other than BASIC.

One of the fundamental skills of any programmer is self learning. Often, the language itself is just not offered in a classroom setting, anyway. Or at least not the stuff you want to know.

Java got popular real fast. There were lots of classes, but not enough. In many cases, the teachers had pretty much learned the basics only a few days before. When the "next big thing" comes out, look for classes. Other than the handful of folks who played with the language/tech in quiet obscurity, everyone else is just feigning competence to sell training.